Matching Items (4)
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- All Subjects: Performance
- Genre: Academic theses
- Creators: Ryan, Russell
Description
The purpose of this research paper is to discuss John Carter's Cantata, the musical development of this composition, and provide a brief history of this African American musician and composer. Presently, there exists very little research regarding Carter's life and compositions. From a musician's perspective, this paper discusses the challenges of singing and performing the Cantata for future performers and provides a reference for their preparation. This project also examines John Carter's musical style and analyzes the structure of the Cantata. African-American folk songs were an inspiration to Carter's compositions, especially this particular work. As an African-American, his life and background played a role in his inspiration of composition. With borrowed music, he reveals a basic truth about this period of American history; how the lives of slaves influenced in the development of this particular genre. Additionally, John Carter's style of composition is examined, including the application of jazz and modal scales in his Cantata. Performance practice is examined for both the singer and pianist in a way that best represents the composer's original and unique intent. From vocal safety to breath control, a singer may find several challenges when performing this eclectic piece. This paper provides a guide for singers. A brief overview of the pianist's role in the Cantata is also included. Characteristic words of the African-American vernacular found in Carter's Cantata are briefly discussed and identified (i.e. "them" vs. "dem"). It is essential that any performer, both beginning and advanced, should have a proper understanding of the concepts that Carter had so carefully crafted. This paper endeavors to provide a deeper sense of understanding to what Carter had intended for both the performer and the listener.
ContributorsNa, Bora (Author) / Britton, David (Thesis advisor) / Bush, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Campbell, Andrew (Committee member) / Rogers, Rodney (Committee member) / Ryan, Russell (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
The craft of improvisation at the organ has survived a long period of dormancy and is experiencing a strong resurgence in the twenty-first century. This project seeks to establish a precedence for the value of notated music as a resource in learning improvisation, and then, through music analysis, provide examples of how that process can develop. The result of the ideas presented here is a pathway whereby any disciplined organist can learn to imitate composed music, assimilate the musical ideas, and innovate through the act of spontaneous improvisation.
ContributorsHoward, Devon (Author) / Marshall, Kimberly (Thesis advisor) / Ryan, Russell (Committee member) / Kocour, Michael (Committee member) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Rockmaker, Jody (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Highly active in the fields of viola performance, composition, recording, and pedagogy, Lionel Tertis is known as one of the first and most influential career violists. Established in 1980, the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and Festival was founded in his honor and occurs triennially at the Isle of Man. While addressing facets of the professional violist with workshops, lectures, and masterclasses, this event provides a venue for competitive performers, acting as a platform for new viola repertoire.
Each competitor must prepare an extensive set of viola repertoire, among which is a compulsory piece for unaccompanied viola by an English composer. These commissioned works require the virtuosity and expression available within a contemporary musical language; this additionally challenges competitors to provide an artistic interpretation relatively untouched by tradition or common practice.
Although these pieces are written specifically for the competition, the commissioned works have the capacity to reach beyond the competition sphere and are highly programmable in most recital and solo performance settings. These pieces provide the contemporary violist with a greater selection of repertoire that displays idiomatic and expressive strengths of the viola.
My project commemorates the contributions of Lionel Tertis to the advancement of viola repertoire and performance with the study of works written a century post his prolific career. The secondary intent is to provide biographical information about each composer and to explore how these highly programmable works enrich the violist and their repertoire, ultimately bringing recognition to these new works for solo viola. Through biographical research, musical analysis, interviews and the recording process, I will provide a performer's analysis and supplemental recordings for three of these works: Darkness Draws In by David Matthews, Sonatine I by Roger Steptoe and Through a Limbeck by John Woolrich.
Each competitor must prepare an extensive set of viola repertoire, among which is a compulsory piece for unaccompanied viola by an English composer. These commissioned works require the virtuosity and expression available within a contemporary musical language; this additionally challenges competitors to provide an artistic interpretation relatively untouched by tradition or common practice.
Although these pieces are written specifically for the competition, the commissioned works have the capacity to reach beyond the competition sphere and are highly programmable in most recital and solo performance settings. These pieces provide the contemporary violist with a greater selection of repertoire that displays idiomatic and expressive strengths of the viola.
My project commemorates the contributions of Lionel Tertis to the advancement of viola repertoire and performance with the study of works written a century post his prolific career. The secondary intent is to provide biographical information about each composer and to explore how these highly programmable works enrich the violist and their repertoire, ultimately bringing recognition to these new works for solo viola. Through biographical research, musical analysis, interviews and the recording process, I will provide a performer's analysis and supplemental recordings for three of these works: Darkness Draws In by David Matthews, Sonatine I by Roger Steptoe and Through a Limbeck by John Woolrich.
ContributorsWuenschel, Allyson Kay (Author) / Buck, Nancy (Thesis advisor) / Carpenter, Ellon (Committee member) / Ryan, Russell (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Pacific Suite (2016) is a four-movement work for solo piano composed by the author of this paper, Holly Kordahl, that incorporates elements of several musical idioms, including Impressionism, tintinnabuli (as in the music of Arvo Pärt), post-modernism, minimalism and improvisation. This Doctorate of Musical Arts project consists of a descriptive paper, analysis, score and recording. The piece features varying levels of performer independence and improvisation along with notated music. Each movement is named after a different environment of the Pacific Ocean: Great Barrier Reef, Mariana Trench, Sunlit Zone, and Bikini Atoll.
Pacific Suite is engaging to mature pianists and accessible to students. The score of Pacific Suite is a blank canvas in some ways; almost all dynamics, tempi, pedaling, and fingerings are to be determined by the performer. The first movement, Great Barrier Reef, presents different musical vignettes. The second movement, Mariana Trench, requires the performer to improvise extensively while following provided instructions. The third movement, Sunlit Zone, asks the performer to improvise on a theme of Debussy. The final movement, Bikini Atoll, illustrates events of nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll in the 1940s.
Pacific Suite is engaging to mature pianists and accessible to students. The score of Pacific Suite is a blank canvas in some ways; almost all dynamics, tempi, pedaling, and fingerings are to be determined by the performer. The first movement, Great Barrier Reef, presents different musical vignettes. The second movement, Mariana Trench, requires the performer to improvise extensively while following provided instructions. The third movement, Sunlit Zone, asks the performer to improvise on a theme of Debussy. The final movement, Bikini Atoll, illustrates events of nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll in the 1940s.
ContributorsKordahl, Holly (Author) / Meir, Baruch (Thesis advisor) / Bolanos, Gabriel (Committee member) / Campbell, Andrew (Committee member) / Hamilton, Robert (Committee member) / Ryan, Russell (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020